don't you walk away

-17-

I woke up, opening my eyes to a bare chest. Ah yes, last night. I smirked to myself and slid out of Mark's arms, figuring I would make some sort of breakfast. I slipped on some underwear and threw on one of my large pajama shirts and a pair of pajama pants, feeling self conscious suddenly. I stood at the stove, cooking some eggs and bacon. I had just served the food onto a couple of plates when Mark shuffled in, with bedhead and a pair of boxers on. He rubbed his eyes and came to stand beside me. 
"Morning, babe." Mark inhaled deeply and sighed. 
"Morning." I put a K-cup into the Keurig and waited for it to brew for Mark. It began running and Mark shuffled over to it, waiting for it to finish. It finally did and he blew on it a bit before taking a small sip. He closed his eyes and smiled a small, sweet smile. I smirked.
"You ready to talk now?" Mark nodded and I handed him his plate of eggs and bacon. We sat down at the island and began eating. I looked over at him. "Any plans for today?" He put a forkful of eggs in his mouth and thought for a moment. He swallowed and shook his head.
"No, not really. We're pretty much done in the studio. I was probably just gonna sit around and practice some songs. You have anything planned?" I shook my head.
"Nah, just the same as you. Probably gonna sit around and listen to you pick on the guitar and maybe pick up your ukulele if you'll let me?" Mark smiled. 
"Of course you can." I smiled and finished up my food, putting my dishes in the sink. I walked into the bedroom and plucked my phone off of the charger. I tossed our clothes from last night into the hamper and walked back into the living room to see Mark holding a guitar.
"Babe would you put on a shirt, you're distracting me." Mark smirked. 
"Ok fine." He set the guitar down and went off to the bedroom to put on some pajamas. I picked his ukulele off of the wall and began strumming the chords to Blue Moon, which was from Beck's new album, Morning Phase. It had been the first thing to show up when I'd first googled "beck" and I'd fallen in love with the song. I sat back on the couch and closed my eyes, strumming peacefully. I finished the song and opened my eyes to see Mark leaning on the island, watching me. I blushed and set down the ukulele on the other end of the couch. Mark sat back down in his chair and picked up his guitar. He started playing Jack-ass but I quickly realized he was playing Strange Invitation, which was an alternate version of Jack-ass. I smiled and hummed along.

After he finished Jack-ass, he started strumming some songs from the new album. I decided to check my phone and saw I had quite a few notifications. I unlocked my phone and saw that Kat added me to a Beck groupchat. I snorted and put the thing on mute because I knew that it would blow up my phone if I didn't. I introduced myself and then went to my dms with Elianne.

< t a l

s m e l l y >

< how r u

good, mark is just sitting here strumming on his guitar   
and i'm listening, enjoying the music, how about u >

   well uhhhh i talked to some folks and showed them
   some of your stuff,,,,, you should probably check your
< email

uh what? ooookay >

I did as Elianne told me and opened my emails to see an email from a company. 

"Dear Thalia,
              Elianne showed us some of your works and we would be more than delighted to have you on at our graphic design company." The email went on to explain how much I would be making, which was a hell of a lot more than I was making doing my freelance commissions stuff. As much as I enjoyed the freelance commission stuff, I kind of missed working with other people. I thought about how I could ask Mark if we could take a visit to the Netherlands without telling him directly that I got a job offer.

hey uh ok so i looked at the email and i wanna visit   
and see what it's like there. can mark and i stay with   
u while we're there? >

< AAAAAAA yes when ö

uhhhh idk soon? probably next week? idk. it'll be a   
short trip. and when we're there pls don't tell mark   
i don't want to freak him out or smth >

< cross my heart

i love u smelly >

< i love u too

I opened my emails again and composed an email in response, basically asking them if I could come in and have a small tour. They responded quite quickly for it being 7 pm there and said "of course". I set my phone down in my lap and pulled Mark's ukulele from the other end of the couch. I started strumming Around My Head by Cage the Elephant absentmindedly and thought about how to ask Mark about a trip to the Netherlands. The both of us finished our songs at the same time and I looked up at him before he could start another.
"Hey Mark?"
"Yes, dear?" I smiled and turned around on the couch so I was leaning against the back of it. 
"How would you feel about a small trip to the Netherlands?" Mark set down his guitar so it was leaning against his desk and leaned forward, interested.
"Um. I mean, it would be nice? Why the sudden interest in the Netherlands?" I frowned.
"It's not a sudden interest, doofus. I want to visit my friend Elianne." Mark leaned back in realization. 
"Oh. I mean, yeah sure! How long and when?" I shrugged.
"I dunno, I was thinking next week? Just a couple of days, you know, leave on Monday and come back Friday?" Mark frowned in thought.
"Yeah, I mean. We could do that." I smiled. 
"Nice. You wanna book the flight?" Mark nodded and turned around to face his computer. I picked up my phone from my lap and re opened Twitter.

mark is buying tickets as i type >

< AAAAAAAAAAA i cant wait to see u oh mgy od

!!!!! yeah i know i can't wait to see u either >

we can meme in real life instead of over twitter or snapchat >

< AAAAA YES

i also asked the people you sent my stuff to for a small
tour and they said ye so i'm gonna do that while we're
there. you wanna go with me since you kinda told them
about me? and that way we can tell mark we're going
shopping or some shit and he can go have fun by 
himself in amsterdam >

< ye ye that sounds good,,, when are u flying in so 
i know when 2 cleaaaaan

lm ao, let me ask mark >

I turned to see the back of Mark's head. 
"I'm talking to Elianne and she said we can stay with her while we're there. You found a flight yet?" I saw his head bob up and down.
"Yeah. We leave LAX at 1:50 pm on Sunday and get there at about 9:05 Monday morning." I nodded.
"Sounds good, babe. Thanks for doing this, I love you." I heard Mark snort.
"I love you too." I turned my attention back to my phone.

ok so we're gonna leave here at 1:50 pm on sunday
and get there at uhhhhhh about 9:05 monday
morning >

< djdjsdfhfsh rip ok so youll be tired and probs want
 2 sleeb ill make the guest room up for u two

bless,,,,,, i can't wait to seeeeeee you!!! >

< aaaaaaaaaa me either!!!!! i love u

!!!!! i love u too >

I closed the Twitter app and decided to poke around on Facebook.
"Done." Mark turned to face me. He hummed for a moment and his face lit up with an idea. "Hand me the ukulele, would you, babe?" I raised my eyebrow. 
"Of course." I grabbed the ukulele by its neck and handed it to Mark. He turned to face the computer and searched something. He strummed a couple chords and hummed to himself and turned to face me when he had the song down.
"This is a good song and I just wanted to play it for you. It came to mind just now for some weird reason." I nodded and rested my chin on my hands on the back of the couch.
"I'm lying on the moon. My dear, I'll be there soon." I smiled as he continued playing The Moon Song from that movie about the guy who fell in love with a computer, Her. The song was really sweet and was probably my favorite part of the movie. His voice cracked in just the right spots and it made the song that much sweeter. He finished and I was grinning from ear to ear.
"How did you know I loved that song so much?" Mark shrugged.
"I dunno. I just thought of it out of the blue and figured you might like it." I smiled even harder, if that was even possible.
"Well, you were right."